Market Intelligence: Inventory levels could dominate holiday thinking
Our latest Leatherbiz Market Intelligence newsletter went live on July 8. This edition raises a series of questions that leather industry leaders will have to mull over during their summer holidays.
One is the effect on the leather supply chain that US tariff policies are likely to have, once the definitive picture regarding tariff rates is clear. We now know that this may happen in early August.
The newsletter makes it clear that the situation in the currency markets is also playing an important role; it calculates that the US dollar depreciated by as much as 16% against the euro in the first half of 2025.
Later, the report also raises the question of what leather manufacturers can do with the high levels of inventory of semi-finished hides that many of them hold in stock. It says stocks of semi-finished goods are high and points out that the shelf-life of this material is not infinite, just as the storage and financing costs are not negligible.
Market Intelligence says there is “no realistic prospect of rapid utilisation of these current stocks”. A further increase in this inventory can be avoided if production remains constant, but decisions will still need to be made regarding the goods already in stock today.
